


Little God

by NAOA



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22307983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NAOA/pseuds/NAOA
Summary: Loki accidentally turns Thor into a little boy and is left having to take care of him until he turns back. (Deagged Fic)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in 2015 after someone asked me to, I'd written a couple of Avengers de-aged fics already and got a message asking for a story where Loki had to take care of a deaged Thor. I thought it was a different kind of idea and descided to try it.

Thor gritted his teeth and offered yet another offer of peaceful resolution to Loki. Loki for his part sneered at it. All of his protestations that they were brothers amounted to nothing. They had never really been brothers. Their lives had been tales of lies and nothing Thor said would change that. However unwitting he had been, he had still been a part of it. Loki had a million spells and it would take more than a few bolts of lightning to stop him. He would end Thor and humiliate him as he did so. He wouldn't have a hero's death. He would die painfully and mercilessly and the world and all who thought he was special would see it.

Loki's lip curled as he thought of it. He would strip Thor of his glory and leave him exposed as the same selfish, weakling that everyone else was. He would show the world and their father that he was a flawed nothing. Brotherhood meant nothing. Their magic clashed as these thoughts filled his head. The lightning flew and Loki snarled. He might have been more outmatched than he had originally anticipated. In a rush he twisted to the side to avoid a hammer strike. Thor looked at him with pathetic eyes, asking him to stop the fight. To give himself up peacefully. Loki's snarl twisted more grotesquely.

With desperation he cast the first spell he could think of and with luck he hit Thor straight in the chest. The other Asguardian stopped in his tracks with wide eyes and Loki leaned forward, shocked that of all the magic he had at his disposal he had hit his mark with one of his least aggressive spell. He watched with somewhat cruel fascination as Thor fell to his knees and began to change. Then a sudden jolt went through him as it dawned on him what kind of spell he'd cast. Slowly before his eyes Thor grew smaller and more child-like and then very suddenly he was a simple child, looking wondrously lost and dazed in his now oversize armor.

Loki didn't like it. His intent had been to kill. To rid himself of his foolish brother. Not to do this. Even when the thought that his brother was now helpless before him crossed his mind he was repulsed by it. He took a step backwards and his face crumpled with horror. He wanted to flee. To leave the place and find shelter from his mistakes. This was too much. He was repulsed by the child now standing, clutching at the armor his wore, now to heavy for him. Thor looked at him with wide and puzzled eyes. "Loki!" He said with surprise as he figured out who was standing in front of him. Loki hissed in displeasure as the sound of the boy's voice evoked memories. He wanted them to be bad memories. He wanted them to be memories of suffering and cruelty but they were not. They were memories of good times of childhood merriment and play. "Don't speak." He hissed. He wanted to clamp his hands to his ears. He didn't think he could take this.

Thor instead broke into a smile of boyish delight. "Why are you grown up?" He asked, voice echoing with curious wonder.

Loki wanted to escape. He didn't want to be faced with his brother like this. It was painful. "I just am." He found himself saying lamely.

"Can you make me grown up too?! I want to see what I'll look like."

Loki wanted to hurt him to make him stop talking and he felt a sudden rush of pain because he couldn't hurt him now. Not like this. Not his brother like this. But he didn't think he could take the boy talking. He made him think of things. Good things and he didn't want to think of those. It was wrong. It was terribly wrong. He didn't want to think of hearing stories at his father's knee or of his mother. He didn't want to think of Thor dragging him into adventurous games. Those had been good times but they were built on lies. Lies. He reminded himself. All lies. And Thor even this child Thor was part of those lies. An unknowing liar.

He turned away. He was justified in his hate. He was justified in his actions. He was justified pure and simple. Lies were unbecoming. Lies were unforgivable. He looked through the corner of his eye at Thor. The boy was smiling and looking around. He couldn't have been more than eight,."Loki where are we?"

"We're having an adventure." He said simply, quietly.

Are we? What is the adventure?"

"Sleep." Loki cast a spell, unable to endure the brightness in the voice, the happiness, the trust, the love. The boy's eyes drifted close and it was only with effort Loki caught him before the child hit the ground. He held him for a moment. An older brother for once and how his skin burned at the contact. Thor's flesh was hot and full of life and energy. Full of trust and love. He didn't think he could stand it.

He debated leaving the boy there. Leaving him on the grassy slope. They were somewhere in Midguard. A mountain rage perhaps. Not important where. They would not be found. If he left him Thor would not be found. He would simply sleep. He could make him sleep. Make him sleep forever. Just lie there and sleep like in a fairy tale. He wanted to. It wouldn't be a cruel death for a child. Yet this was his brother. Visions of childhood flashed through his mind. Visions of playing and learning and growing and so many other things shared. Love and happiness. But those weren't for him anymore. He had set his path to hatred and now this sleeping child of love and good memories burned his flesh to hold. He wanted to be rid of the boy. It was painful to be near him and made his heart hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

He took the child. Took him into a village. Got a room. A simple, antique inn. Then he sat on the end of his own bed and thought. Thor slept on. Peaceful and with a child's innocence. Untroubled by the world and the wicked things that lived in it. Perhaps he knew of them but he did not truly understand them. He slept on his back, open to the world. How careless and arrogant. But not so. Simply the form of a child.

Loki cringed at the thought and that night did not sleep. He could not. He didn't want to. He knew he would dream and he would dream of good things and he would remember happiness and it would make him feel guilty and wicked and he wasn't. They were. His father, his ignorant brother. They were guilty. Guilty for pretending they loved him and guilty for trying to make him one of them when he never could be. When now he never wanted to be. He hated them. He didn't want to love. Yet he watched the sleeping child and hated himself for tarnishing those memories. He wanted to hate him and yet here and now that was so difficult. Every angle he looked at the boy another memory came and the worst part was that they were all good.

The next morning Thor awoke with a yawn and a growling stomach. "You're still big!" He said in delight. "Won't you tell me how you did it?"

"It's a secret." He said as snidely as he could. It went over the boy's head.

"Not that's not fair Loki! You have to tell me. Was it magic? It was, wasn't it? You learned some magic! Show me some!"

"Not today." He said curtly.

Thor pouted. "I only wanted to see. Just because you look grown up doesn't mean you have to act grown up."

"I am grown up. You're not." Loki said.

"Why not?"

Loki shook his head solemnly. "I don't know." He didn't know if he could do more than whisper. As it turned out, it didn't matter much. Thor was easily distracted.

"I'm hungry." Thor said after a moment of looking around the room. "Can we eat?"

Loki swallowed. His brother was a child and of course he couldn't refuse him food. Children needed to eat. He waved his hand and Thor was dressed. He copied the clothes of a mortal child he had seen before. Thor was delighted by them as he was by everything else. He truly believed he was on a grand adventure and Loki was his confidant. How many times had Loki seen that light in his eyes and that smile on his face before.

He took the boy out and they found a little restaurant serving breakfast. Thor ate happily and Loki ate little. He could hardly take his eyes from the child and yet at the same time couldn't bare to look at him. An old lady out for breakfast cooed over Thor. Loki took little notice and pretended he couldn't hear her.

"I said, is this your son?" She asked kindly.

Loki found himself forced into the conversation. "No. my brother."

The old lady talked some more but he couldn't brink himself to listen. It hurt. He had made a mistake. He found himself wishing he had left Thor on the mountain and soon after having the thought he hated himself. How could he wish that for his brother? It was all too much and grabbing Thor's hand he dragged him from the restaurant. Thor protested. He had enjoyed talking to the woman. She was the first Midguardian he had spoken to. Loki dragged him back to the inn and then Locked himself in the bathroom. He had to get away from Thor but he couldn't leave him alone.

He stood staring at himself in the mirror, revulsion and fear coursing thorough him. He didn't know what he was afraid of only that he was. Afraid of some unknown, bodyless thing. In the other room he could hear Thor calling his name, asking what was wrong. He sounded scared, unsure. He he longed to hear that in his brother's voice. . . but not like this. He clenched his hands around the sink and shook from the effort of reigning in his thoughts.

Once back out he found Thor sitting on the bed looking worried. "What's wrong, Loki? Are you homesick?" The boy asked.

"No." The cheery voice, the concern he didn't want to hear. "I'm fine."

Thor nodded, still looking worried. "Okay." He looked down for a moment. "Do you want to go exploring?" He sounded both hopeful and concerned, like he thought exploring would help.

Loki shook his head. "No, not now."

Thor looked disappointed. "Oh. Then what to you want to do?"

In truth he didn't know what he wanted to do. He wanted to run away and leave the boy. He thought of his spell. It was temporary. A few days at most. Perhaps he only had to care for the child for a few days and then all would be right again. He could go back to hating his brother for his foolishness and his lies. He could hate him and things would be as they were supposed to be.

Thor sat on his bed, gazing out the window, sunlight catching in his hair and creating a halo. His face was open and bright and he smiled as he watched a bird fly by. Loki remembered his brother at this age. He had been happy and full of energy. A little prince. He cringed at the thought. They had both been little princes. Free to do whatever they wished, to run wild and play. And run they did. Thor, always looking for a new adventure. Loki, dragged along but never truly hating it.

He looked at the child and hated him. Tried to hate him but couldn't. He could hate the adult. Hate the man but never the child. Those memories he had tried to hate, wanted to hate but still couldn't. Quite suddenly he realized that he couldn't stay in the little room with him. He would go mad if he did.

"Come." He said softly. "Perhaps we will go exploring."

With glee Thor leaped from the bed and followed him out. They left the inn and wandered through the village. It was old. Old and isolated. Thor was mesmerized by everything he saw. He was dazzled by cars especially. He watched them with fascination as they made their way through the winding streets. The village was small and peaceful. Loki was glad they were not in a big city. Perhaps if they were he could have left the child with the Avengers but he thought maybe this was better. He could keep his name out of it. He didn't even know if when returned to normal, Thor would remember any of it.

He watched the boy run ahead and talk to an old man working in his garden. He had cast a spell early on to avoid suspicion. They were in Germany and his spell cloaked their words, made the locals hear words they would understand. He did it often when traveling. Thor talked brightly to the old man who leaned on his garden hoe and talked amiably.

When whatever trivial conversation the boy had started ended and he returned to Loki's side. He watched Thor with detachment, unwilling to feel anything. Thor babbled happily, running and jumping. They wandered out of the town and followed a little brook. Loki hardly payed any attention to where they went. When he looked up they were standing on a hill overlooking the village. Thor was poking around by the stream, looking content and happy. It was a picturesque scene. Loki looked from his brother, to the village. It would be so easy to leave him. He would turn back in a couple of days. It would be so easy. He envisioned it. He could leave, Thor would be alone and he would be free. He took a step back and the boy failed to notice. He took another and then another and then disappeared.

He found himself far away. A big city. He could hide there, lost among the anonymity of midguard. Just another face in the endless crows of mortals. They bustled around him like flies and he was able to escape. He retreated to lick his wounds.


	3. Chapter 3

Thor looked round and saw that he was alone. Loki had vanished. Puzzled he called his name but no one answered save the wind. He dropped the stick he was playing with and began to look around. First Loki was big and then he had seemed so sad and now he was gone. In his young mind, Thor was troubled.

He wandered further and further from the village and deeper into the woods. He called Loki's name every now and then, hoping his brother was only hiding. He hoped it was some kind of game but the adventure was turning out not to be as fun as it might have been.

After a while he tried to retrace his steps but soon found that he could not find his way back to the little hill. Worry overtook him and he began to feel hopeless. He couldn't find his way back and he couldn't find his brother. He twisted his hands in worry and bit his lip, calling Loki's name again. He began to feel hungry. It had been a while since breakfast.

He listened for the sound of the brook, hoping that it would lead him back to the hill but he couldn't hear it. Defeated he sat at the base of a tree and tried to think clearly. He was scared. Loki was gone and he didn't know how to get home. He had always thought going to other realms would be exciting and for a while it had but now that he was alone everything had changed.

Alone and hungry and completely lost he began to feel the weight of the situation. His father must know where he was but why wasn't he doing anything? Why hadn't he come to get him? His breath hitched and he sniffed, trying not to cry. He was too old to cry but he couldn't help it when he felt a tear leak out of his eye. Furiously he scrubbed at his face but to no avail and a second later he was crying.

He was all by himself and he couldn't find Loki and everything was awful. He sniffed again and again, trying to stop his tears but he was hungry and scared and all alone. He wiped his eyes miserably and cried until he couldn't anymore. After that he sat for a long time, resting his head in his arms. He didn't know what to do. Night was coming and he was cold and alone. He missed his brother.

Loki had retreated to a city far away. He heard the dealings of the Avengers and other so called Superheroes talked about. Thor's disappearance was hardly mentioned. People were used to him disappearing back to Asguard.

He himself held up in a hotel, content to stay hidden. But try as he might the couldn't stop thinking of his brother. Guilt weighed on him in a way it never had before. He had never felt bad about anything involving his brother before but now. . . this was different and he tried not to feel but couldn't stop it. He wondered if Thor had found his way back to the inn. Wondered if someone had taken him in instead. If they had they would be in for a surprise. Wondered if the boy was still lost in the woods.

When he tried to sleep he found himself unable. He thought of his brother and of the child he had grown up with. He had left that child to starve in the woods. The child was innocent. Anything that befell him before he returned to adulthood would be his fault.

He thought of his smiling, happy brother and the games they had played as children and then of how scared the boy must be.

Sleep eluded him that night and near dawn he gave in. He fled the hotel and returned to the hill where he found Thor asleep under a tree. The boy was dirty and his clothes were stained with mud. He was sleeping in a ball, arms folded under his head and hand tucked inside of his sleeves.

Reaching down he shook the child awake. Thor whimpered and opened his eyes slowly. "Hm?" His bleary eyes found Loki's face and widened. "Loki, where were you?"

"I left. Come with me, we're going back to the inn."

Thor stumbled after him, groggy and half asleep. He tripped and nearly fell at one point and Loki was forced to carry him. The boy weighed little, a stark contrast to the wall of muscle he would be as an adult. By the time they reached the edge of town he had fallen back asleep.

Loki transported them back to their room and shook the child awake again. "You need to take a bath." He said softly.

Thor nodded and stumbled towards the bathroom door but stopped with his hand on the knob. "Where did you go?"

In the dim light Loki felt his stomach twist. "I went away but it was a mistake."

"Oh. I thought you didn't like me since you were grown up."

"No. Go and take your shower."

Thor did, not understanding why Loki wouldn't look at him or why he had been alone for so long. He was hungry and all he wanted was to sleep. He took his shower and washed his hair and when he came back, wrapped in a towel Loki had materialized some clean pajamas and told him to sleep.

"We'll eat in the morning." After a moment alone in the dark Loki spoke again. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it."

Thor drifted to sleep with a smile and Loki hated himself in that moment. His brother had forgiven him, despite being left alone in the woods.. Despite having been left to fend for himself. He forgave and believed the best. An annoying trait he carried on into adulthood.

Loki watched the child sleep and then rolled onto his side, facing away. He couldn't bare to look at him any longer.


	4. Chapter 4

They ate breakfast the next morning, Thor had completely forgiven him, worse than that he didn't even see a need for forgiveness. He insisted Loki must have had a good reason and now that he was eating and had a full stomach again he seemed to believe that it had not been that bad after all.

After they ate he let the child sleep for a few more hours. He had no plans to make him do anything and everything was easier when Thor slept. He calculated that this would be the last day Thor was child. It would have been nice to just let him sleep until then. His hand shook with the effort of not casting the spell.

He went and sat by the window, focusing on a book he'd procured from another realm. No matter how hard he tried he could not tune out the rhythmic breath of the little boy on the bed next to him. Thor had been exhausted. He had seen it at breakfast. He had barely been able to keep his head up while he was eating. Hunger had probably been what kept him going.

He hated how easily Thor had forgiven him and yet was grateful that he had. At this point he didn't know what he would do if the child ever hated him. Still it was only for a little while more, then he could forget that this ever happened. He glanced at the clock. Thor would be back to the way he was supposed to be by the next morning. All he had to do was take care of him until then.

The child slept on for a while more before finally waking and seeking Loki out. Loki himself had picked up a book. He had tried to read it but found his thoughts listless and his eyes unable to focus. Instead he gazed out the window and tried not to think or feel. He was pulled from his reverie by Thor plucking at his sleeve. He looked down and found his brother's bright blue eyes smiling at him.

"Do you want to go for a walk again?" He asked.

Feeling helpless Loki let the boy lead him out of the room and drag him through the inn until they were on the street. Thor jumped from paving stone to paving stone and made a game of it and Loki watched him. As a child he would have thought Thor foolish to play so much but perhaps that only would have been because he wanted to join him.

They stopped for lunch and Thor charmed the waitress. Loki let him talk and stayed silent himself. He couldn't find anything to say. He enjoyed watching his brother a little. It made him feel guilty but also good. Thor was endearing, a bright little ball of sunshine that everyone seemed to like. He knew it was probably just because he was a child but everywhere they went people seemed to like him. He made people happy.

After lunch they walked some more and Thor laughed and chatted aimlessly to Loki who listened to all of it. He was desperate to make up for leaving his brother in the woods and so he listened and played along with all of Thor's trivial conversations. After a time they returned to the inn and Loki recounted a story to the boy who was worn from walking and requested one. It was one their father had told them and even though he had heard it before Thor sat with rapt attention.

That night they ate one last meal together. Thor continued to babble through dinner, talking animatedly. He had no idea what the night would bring and Loki had no intention of telling him. By morning he would be an adult again and there was no reason for him to know.

After dinner he took the boy on one last walk out into the woods, leading the way to where he had first cast the spell. There he sat Thor down in the grass and took a small liberty. He ran his hand through his brother's hair and Thor smiled up at him. "We should have brought food." The boy said. "Then we could have a picnic."

Loki smiled a small smile. "We already ate."

Thor shrugged. "There's always desert."

"I suppose so." They sat for a moment longer before he waved his hand and Thor's eyes closed and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Loki got to his feet and looked down at the sleeping child. Thor's armor was a few feet away, hidden in the grass and he would see it when he awoke. He would be an adult when he did. He took one last look at the sleeping child and disappeared.

Thor awoke with the dawn. He sat for a moment in the grass, feeling strange. The last thing he remembered was fighting his brother. He looked round and spotted his armor a few feet away and ruefully got to his feet. Whatever had happened his brother was long gone and he had nothing to do but head back to the Avengers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure why some of the wording is like this. It feels awkward and has a lot of run-on sentences. I might edit this one someday.Thanks for reading!


End file.
